Path of the Open Hand

The Path of the Open Hand, remembered as "the faithful" by the Ro family, was an extremist missionary order and cult that existed on the planet Dalna during the High Republic Era. Led by Elecia Zeveron, also known as "The Mother," who claimed to be a prophet, they believed that no one should use the Force, especially the Jedi Order. They believed that using the Force was abusing it and would cause death and disaster throughout the galaxy.

In 382 BBY, the Path and the Mother came into possession of a living weapon she named the Leveler that preyed upon Force-sensitives, as well as the Rod of Seasons, which could control it. After the creature hatched, she convinced the Path it was an agent of the Force and was doing the Force's will when it killed those who used it. Afterward, the Path, at the direction of its Guide Marda Ro, began to expand their reach by traveling the galaxy in their flagship the Gaze Electric, including to the holy moon Jedha. At the same time, the Mother manipulated the Eiram and E'ronoh War in order to come into possession of an Eirami poison and make the Jedi out to be villains so that public opinion would be turned against them.

On Jedha, the Path's other leader, Werth Plouth, known as "The Herald," petitioned for the Convocation of the Force, a council of different Force-affiliated groups, to be disbanded and for all of its groups to stop use of the Force. After the Convocation rejected his petition, the Herald incited a crowd outside the Convocation Chambers against the council and Force-users while Yana Ro, Marda's cousin, deployed the Leveler into the crowd, the effects of the creature on Force-sensitives turning the enraged group into an all out riot. The riot spread to the Second Spire, where a treaty between Eiram and E'ronoh was to be signed. This, along with intervention by the Brotherhood of the Ninth Door at the direction of the Path, caused both parties to attack each other and began the Battle of Jedha. This had been the Mother's plan, and she attempted to make the Path appear to be the heroes by helping and healing people during the conflict, but many still blamed them and their healing house there was destroyed. In the aftermath, the Mother claimed the Herald had acted alone in causing the conflict and did not represent the Path.

Several different groups of Jedi traveled to Dalna after the battle to investigate the Path. At the same time, infighting began between the Mother and the Herald, but was ended by Marda Ro, who had become even more convinced that using the Force was evil after joining the mission to the legendary Planet X to obtain more of the Nameless, the Leveler's species. She reorganized the Path there into a subgroup called the Path of the Closed Fist, declaring war against the Jedi. In a devastating battle that became known as the Night of Sorrow, the Path then fought the Jedi that had already come to Dalna and many more that arrived for support, killing many of them with the Nameless. However, the Path was defeated by the Jedi with the help of a united Eiram and E'ronoh. After the battle, Marda discovered that the Mother had been lying about her prophetic visions and had been hypocritically using the Force, so Marda killed her using the Leveler. Taking the Path's flagship, the Gaze Electric, Marda kept her faith but began a new plan to take down the Jedi, founding the Nihil. Another descendant of the Path known as the Elders of the Path eventually formed, containing Path members that had escaped or survived the Night of Sorrow.

Text and facts from the “Path of the Open Hand” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.